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Sunil Bakshi was above all else a practical man.
Joining HYDRA had been an obvious choice. Not only because a world spanning organization with that kind of pull would give him a lot of opportunities to ascend in life - but because saying no was obviously a lethal choice.
Likewise, when given the choice to abandon HYDRA for Hammer Industries or die. It had been an easy choice to make as well.
He hadn't quite expected the trajectory his life would end up on by making that decision however.
He didn't have a fancy title. He wasn't well known to the world, outside the movers and shakers at the top level of industry and politics. But that was how he preferred it.
He had power. Some might jokingly call him the secretary - but that was deluded co-workers who didn't realize the kind of power he could wield in the position he was in.
Justin Hammer was a workaholic, so you would think Sunil would have an easier time because the man at the top would be doing a lot of the work - you'd be wrong.
Justin was a workaholic, sure, but he was constantly doing something new. Which meant all old business was constantly handled by Sunil, with only the briefest input by the boss at times.
Sunil operated a business that employed more people than some countries had citizens. That kind of power, resting in his hands almost alone, was everything he'd ever wanted out of life.
He quite literally decided who lived or died - and in many cases that detailed entire industries. He could call up a dictator that had spat in the face of American pressure for decades, and have the man be humble and deferent, hoping to avoid angering Hammer industries.
It was a feeling that alone made the sometimes 18 hour workdays worth it. Albeit with Nail's introduction, he'd been able to cut it down to only 14 hour workdays most days.
Of course, the job came with its challenges.
Like today. When someone or something decided that Hammer industries was doing too good of a job on making everyone's lives better and decided to shit the bed.
Sunil's gaze was fixed on the display before him, a spread of screens detailing Earth's current descent into chaos. A chill sliver of anger worked its way through him, filling him with a cold intensity that steadied his mind.
They had taken every precaution, secured every contingency. But now, all over the world, smaller powers and enemies were scurrying out of their hiding places, attempting to tear down Hammer Industries from the shadows. Watching the feed of Iron Legionnaire units cutting swaths through various militaries in his display, he grit his teeth. After everything his boss had done to propel the world forward, the ants now sought to drag Hammer Industries back into the mud with them.
At a time when the boss was busy ensuring their very survival against a possible alien threat…
Sunil was rarely angry. Anger was a pointless endeavor that only limited his ability to make decisions.
But this… Ungrateful display from the cowards hiding amongst refuse, now daring to crawl out and deface Hammer industries with their very existence.
This made him angry. Furious even.
"Forge," He asked, his tone tight, though his voice betrayed none of his irritation and anger. "Any luck on solving the issue?"
The other man, standing at a console and frowning at the figures on his screen, shook his head slowly. "I mean…Whatever took out Nail hasn't spread too far. We've only lost the Legion; she blocked access to everything else before it got in too deep."
Sunil closed his eyes for a moment, allowing a grim satisfaction to spread through him. If the Iron Legion was the only asset they'd lost, they were still a long way from any possibility of defeat. There was still plenty left to Hammer Industries, and fortunately, his boss had designed Nail with enough forethought to keep their most critical systems off-limits in case of any fluctuations of her behavior.
Once again his boss had shown amazing foresight.
"Well," He said evenly, "That at least buys us some time. And ensures the space station's orbital defense systems are secured." He allowed himself the smallest sigh of relief. "The Iron Legionnaires wreaking havoc down below are already enough. We don't need to give our enemy control over orbital firepower."
He'd prefer his boss returned without half the earth on fire, so that was good news indeed.
Forge made a face but nodded, glancing back at his display. "We've lost Nails' global control, but with some time, we can pull back the rest of our assets to manual." His fingers flew over the console, then slowed. "Not ideal, but we can get it done piece by piece."
Across the room, one of the Black Widows looked up from her own console. "Sir, we've lost all contact with the Mandarin."
Sunil nodded, his jaw tightening briefly. He had anticipated as much, knowing well enough that Xu Wenwu was as slippery as he was arrogant. But if the man wanted to enter the game, he'd just made a fatal error. One that would finally end that particular annoyance.
"Expected, operative," He replied, tersely. "But he won't remain hidden for long." He'd finally made a mistake, well, one above and beyond the foolishness of acting against Justin Hammer…
The Widow, Zara, shifted uncomfortably. "Sir?"
Sunil met her eyes, his smile chilling. "He will reap what he's sown, operative. The Mandarin cannot hide from us forever, especially not now." His voice was as cold and unyielding as iron.
He knew the operative didn't understand, but that was fine, the bigger picture was not necessary for the cogs in the wheel. He turned to the screens, mind calculating all the assets at his disposal.
The screens in front him suddenly fizzled for a moment, before additional information began rolling in, the screens having access to additional data points again.
At that, Forge let out a crow of triumph, slapping the console with a triumphant grin. "We're back in business! Got manual control over surveillance and defense systems again, boss!" He stood up, punching the air. "Who's the man? I'm the man!"
The dozen Black Widows stationed at various consoles glanced at him briefly, unimpressed. They were still in the middle of a crisis after all. Forge cleared his throat, looking to Sunil hopefully.
Sunil barely raised an eyebrow but finally indulged him with a dry, "Yes, Forge. You are, indeed, 'the man'." His tone was dry enough to drain every ounce of Forge's enthusiasm.
Forge visibly deflated, mumbling under his breath, "Can't get no respect around here…"
Unconcerned with his complaints, Sunil continued, "Did you discover anything about Nail while you were decoupling her from operations?" He turned back to his display, fingers drumming a rhythmic beat against the edge of the table.
Forge scratched his chin, brow furrowed in thought. "I wouldn't say much, really, except…She's using a lot of juice. Like, she's thinking real hard. Whatever's going on with her, she's pulling major power."
Sunil cocked an eyebrow, considering this new detail carefully. "Would it benefit her to give her more power, or would it exacerbate the current issues?"
Ideally, if she'd been compromised, they'd shut her down. But only Justin was able to do such a thing. The other avenue open to them was to ensure she won against whatever had infected the legion.
Forge hesitated, the fingers on his console pausing in thought. "I mean…Can't get worse, right?" He shrugged.
The uncertainty in his voice was far from reassuring, but Sunil wasn't one to flinch from risk when the situation demanded it. "Do it," He said, his tone unwavering. "And continue isolating our operations from her framework. If we can compartmentalize key functions, we can at least maintain minimal operations and ensure continuity no matter what happens with her."
Forge gave him a sloppy salute, rolling his chair back toward his console with renewed focus. Sunil's gaze turned to the large tactical map of Earth, spread across the central screen, his finger skimming over various locations as his mind calculated the next steps. The X-Men had successfully subdued their immediate threat in the Americas. The question now was where they could be redeployed with the greatest impact.
"Redeploy the X-Men to Indonesia," He ordered, his finger pressing down on the location. "Xavier alone can pacify the situation with the civilians and whatever is going on with their leadership. His team will bolster appearances by putting down Legionnaires and maintaining control."
A Widow stationed near the back wall nodded, stepping forward. "Sir, and if Xavier refuses?"
Sunil raised an eyebrow, the hint of a sardonic smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Then portal them anyway and kindly remind Ms. Grey that her telepathic talents can be of great service in keeping casualties down if Xavier doesn't have the stomach for it suddenly." He crossed his arms, voice heavy with disdain. "I grow tired of the 'greatest telepath alive' wasting time with his indecisiveness."
The Widow gave a sharp nod, her face impassive, before vanishing in a whirl of orange light, using one of the many sling rings his boss had personally equipped the Widows with. The portals had quickly become a favored method of transportation among their agents, and Sunil had to admit, he found their efficiency invaluable.
Even if it was a rare few of them who could use them for their intended purpose, supplying their secret space station through portals. Most of them were only mildly successful, capable of getting a country or two away at a time.
Training the Widows to use the sling rings had been one of Hammer's most ingenious ideas. Though only so many operatives possessed the talent, the tactical advantage was unmatched.
Sunil stood up, getting close to the screens, his hands behind his back as he observed the situation unfolding across the globe. He wasn't concerned with the countless battles between countries - those wars could be swept away in the aftermath. His focus was on preempting and neutralizing the Iron Legionnaires' movements, anticipating their advances and deploying their own forces where they could intercept or divert.
"Deploy a battalion from South Africa to Kyoto," He ordered, eyes sharp as he followed another troop of Legionnaires breaking from their engagement in Korea. "They'll intercept the incoming forces in Kyoto before they gain ground."
And would also begin putting pressure on the Japanese government, hopefully ending the Mandarins puppet in a coup or civil rebellion soon. Unfortunately the widows were needed for transportation and couldn't be wasted on that outcome quite yet. He made a mental note to assign somebody if the Japanese government still stood after this crisis.
Another Widow stepped forward, absorbing the instructions with a quick nod before disappearing through a portal to relay the orders. Only a few moments passed before a notification pinged back, indicating that the reinforcements were already mobilizing to the new location.
Zara cleared her throat, her voice steady but cautious. "And the Legionnaires rampaging in Beijing, sir?"
Sunil didn't bother turning to face her, his gaze focused on the screen. "I don't see anything," he replied icily.
Zara's gaze flickered uncertainly from him to the map, which clearly displayed the large concentration of Legionnaires carving a path through China. She swallowed, nodding. "Understood, sir."
Sunil allowed himself the briefest of smiles. China had sown the seeds of its own destruction by its alliance with the Mandarin, and now it could reap the consequences.
His fingers tapped a thoughtful rhythm against his wrist as he continued to assess the battlefield, his eyes scanning each continent with the precision of a chess master scrutinizing his pieces. His gaze lingered on the far-right edge of the screen, where a small but notable blackout zone marked the moon.
Their loss of communication with the moonbase remained a concern, but not an immediate threat. Backup forces had already been dispatched, ensuring that portal access would remain intact for the time being. He would address the moon later, once they had their footing more solidly secured on Earth.
He had trust in his boss. Hammer had never failed to deliver so far. Even losses eventually worked in his favor.
For now, the real battle was here, on the ground. Hammer Industries would not fall, and if his boss's temporary absence had left him at the helm, then Sunil would ensure they weathered this storm and emerged victorious.
He barely glanced at the minor alerts still flashing for the lost personnel at New York's blacksite. The loss of Dr. Maya Hansen would be unfortunate, though not a scientific catastrophe. Extremis had reached its peak, and her work was no longer essential.
The only concern was that his boss would take offense. Justin Hammer would undoubtedly be annoyed by the death of a woman who had, in her way, contributed to his empire's rise. At least, Sunil mused, it wasn't another Hope situation. He had no doubt that the world would not enjoy another one of those - not with the amount of power his boss now held.
His gaze shifted to the status of Dr. Helen Cho, her location beacon having disappeared in what he assumed was the Mandarin's vicinity. Unlike Maya, her ties to Hammer would make her loss a personal affront.
The Mandarin had chosen poorly, he thought coldly, his fingers tightening on the edge of the console in front of him. Wenwu's arrogance had finally overstepped its bounds.
Sunil allowed emotional concerns to interject with his mission for once, changing his mind on the Japanese question. He wouldn't allow the Mandarin any hold for even a second longer then necessary.
He sent a quick command to another operative, voice even and measured. "Deploy our covert ops team to Japan. Primary objective is the assassination of the Prime Minister and military leadership. Ensure Japan withdraws from the conflict."
The operative, a tall, lean Widow in tactical black, gave a sharp nod before vanishing through a portal, her mission clear.
He couldn't afford to send Widows, but she could transport a regular covert ops team into position, and they could handle the rest. They were some of the best - just not comparable to Black Widows.
Sunil's gaze hardened as he observed the map, mentally recalculating his resources. Losses were inevitable. But so long as they endured, the war was already won.
All you've succeeded in doing is speeding up the process of the world's subjugation… He thought with derision at the Mandarin.
He continued issuing orders, cool and collected, as Hammer industries began systematically destroying the chains of command and structures of reticent governments across the world.
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On the Moon,
In the dim, metallic expanse of the corridor, Justin gaze narrowed, his mind half here and half worlds away. Beside him, Domino idly flipped a broken Sentinel's head in her hand, a lopsided grin on her face behind her helmet, as she glanced at him.
"So… This sucks," She announced, holding up the Sentinel head as if she were delivering Hamlet's soliloquy. "Why are aliens such massive screw-ups, anyway?"
Yelena, crouched over another fallen Sentinel as she prodded its inner mechanics, snorted. "Competent incompetence," She said, letting a handful of sparking wires fall from her fingers. "Takes a special kind of skill to create adaptable machines like these," She muttered, wrenching out a metal core that still pulsed faintly with energy. "And then another level of stupidity to let them get out of hand like this."
Justin was barely paying attention to their banter, his mind elsewhere. He hadn't needed the Power Stone's strength, not yet. The Sentinels had come in droves, but none had come close to breaching his defenses or even testing his full power. Their tactic was brute force, sheer numbers, and it had slowed to a trickle now that so many had been destroyed. He sensed, rather than knew, that Hela's will had played some role in keeping their paths as open as they had been.
No doubt she was drawing the majority of the fire, and therefore limiting the amount of pressure that this Calamity was able to put on him and his subordinates.
But as he stood there, an insistent whisper pulled him back to Earth, low at first, then louder - Helen Cho. Her prayers, her desperate words, wormed through his mind. They had started as little more than static at the edge of his consciousness, something he had ignored in the midst of battle. But now, something in the tone of her pleas tore through him, filling him with a cold, building fury.
Someone had touched one of his. Someone had taken one of his.
He was done.
He'd tried to be magnanimous. To not push too far too quickly. To give people the chance to settle in with the changes.
It seemed some would only ever understand the iron fist of tyranny…
It was time he stopped playing. He had become a GOD! The time to play to expectations was over - only death availed those who touched what was his!
"Justin?" Yelena's voice was sharper now, pulling him back to the present. She crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow, her mouth twisted into a playful smirk behind her own visor. "Are you even listening to us?"
Justin blinked, his focus returning to the cold metal corridor around him, but the fire behind his eyes remained. He looked from Domino to Yelena, his breath coming out in a low, dangerous hiss.
"The next step?" He repeated, his voice like a growl, reverberating low and dark. Power radiated off him, charging the air with an intensity that made the broken metal around them rattle, vibrating as if alive. His gaze, simmering with barely contained rage, pinned them in place.
Domino and Yelena exchanged wary looks, both taking an involuntary half-step back. The easy confidence they'd worn through every clash with the Sentinels faltered as they stared into his eyes, each realizing they were seeing a side of Justin Hammer that had never surfaced before.
Justin's hand twitched, and the walls around them began to hum, trembling as his energy fed into them. His eyes glowed, a fierce light that flooded the corridor. His voice echoed, amplified, like a choir of rage.
"Everyone," He said, his voice almost a whisper yet somehow carrying the weight of a thousand voices. "Every single one of them. The Sentinels. The Skrulls. The Mandarin. Any enemy of mine." His voice sharpened, hardening into pure fury. "No more. I will not suffer their existence any longer."
With a movement that seemed to defy space itself, he thrust his hand into the air before him, fingers curling as he pulled against some unseen resistance. Space tore apart under his grip, rending open with a sickening ripple, and from the rift, he pulled the Power Stone. There was no portal needed, no interdimensional trickery - just raw, unfiltered power bending reality to his will. He felt the stone's strength hum beneath his fingertips, potent and vibrating with potential that spoke to him, beckoning him forward.
His body had already been carved out to accommodate the power - there was no point in hesitation.
He looked at it, a thing of pure, overwhelming force, knowing he had hesitated before to use it fully. But he understood now - the power itself had already claimed him, made its marks, filled his very veins with its energy. He didn't need to fear its strength. It was his to wield, an extension of his very soul.
Domino and Yelena watched in stunned silence as he brought the stone to his chest, his fingers steady as he pressed it against the armor over his heart. His chestplate absorbed the stone with a ripple of light, and then it sank beneath the armor, into his very skin, the glowing purple pulse of it beating in time with his own heart as it settled nestled against it.
The power was electric, surging through him, filling him with a strength he hadn't realized he lacked until now. He felt it burn through him like a second heartbeat, a rhythm that throbbed with the kind of authority only a god could wield. His vision expanded, showing him layers of reality stacked upon each other, each thread tied to him, each one his to control, his to shape.
Yelena could barely contain her exhilaration, her eyes fixed on him with something between awe and worship. Domino, her expression a strange mix of awe and fear, steadied herself, looking unsure of what was going to happen.
"Justin," Yelena managed, her voice almost reverent, "What's the plan?"
Justin didn't look at her, his gaze fixed down the long corridor that stretched before him. He didn't need to see where Calamity's mainframe was, he could sense it, the alien tech throbbing with an energy so foreign it was like a stain against the backdrop of his power - he could also sense the dark presence down there, deep beneath the Moon's surface. He understood now why Earth had faced this onslaught, why Nail had been incapacitated, why the Sentinels had been unleashed. Calamity had not acted alone, someone had been behind this, orchestrating this grand design with the Skrulls.
Somehow he already knew.
"I have a date," He murmured, voice thrumming with finality.
He tore his gaze from the depths of the facility to his allies, lifting a hand to slice a portal open before them with a casual flick of his wrist. It widened before them, its edges crackling with energy. He could feel Calamity's cold gaze turned his way through a thousand digital eyes, but it didn't matter. Let the creature see - let it know. It's time was nearing its end.
This diversion had cost him something on Earth. He could feel it. And he would introduce the concept of everlasting pain to those behind it.
"I'll be back soon with the others, you're all regrouping and being sent on another task…"
Justin's lips twisted into a cruel smile. His gaze pierced through the facility's walls as though they were glass, drawn to the heart of Calamity's fortress, to the tangled web of alien tech and the one held captive there. The Power Stone's energy pulsed through him, amplifying his vision, his senses, until the entire facility lay open before him like a blueprint etched in glowing lines, nothing technological able to hide behind the gaze of his domains.
He stepped through the portal.
A rift of swirling, violet light opened in the cold, metallic corridor, and Justin Hammer stepped through, his every movement imbued with an aura of absolute dominance. The air around him seemed to ripple faintly, as though the very fabric of reality bent to acknowledge his presence. The Power Stone, embedded deep in his chest, pulsed with raw energy, its glow seeping through the golden lines of his armor, casting shadows against the walls. It wasn't simply a tool anymore - it was as much a part of him as any other organ.
Justin no longer feared its power. He was its master.
Before him, the corridor swarmed with Sentinels, their featureless faces turning in eerie unison as he arrived. At the center of the chaos, Ivan Vanko lay crumpled and immobile, his heavy Whiplash armor sparking faintly, defeated by the machines that had overwhelmed him. The Sentinels, towering and relentless, began to advance, their limbs shifting into an array of deadly forms: blades, cannons, and electrified claws. Their blank expressions betrayed no emotion, but their intent was clear - to eliminate him.
Justin smirked.
The lead Sentinel lunged first, its arm transforming into a serrated blade that whistled through the air. Justin raised his fist, the Power Stone's power blazing brightly, and clenched it. The air crackled with energy as an invisible force gripped the Sentinel mid-attack. Its blade stopped mere inches from him, quivering as though held by an unyielding hand. Then, with a low, metallic groan, its entire body began to collapse inward.
The Sentinel's limbs bent unnaturally, its chestplate caved in, and its head folded into itself with a sickening crunch. The machine was crushed into a compact sphere of mangled metal, sparks flickering as it hit the floor with a dull thud.
The others hesitated for a fraction of a second, their adaptive programming processing this new threat. Then they charged in unison, the corridor filled with the deafening hum of energy weapons and the thunderous clang of their mechanical limbs.
Justin's sneer deepened. He spread his arms wide, the veins of his armor glowing brighter as he channeled the full might of the Power Stone. The entire corridor seemed to groan under the strain of the energy he unleashed.
"Not today," He growled, clenching his fist once more. "You are not my equals!"
A titanic force slammed into the Sentinels, and they crumpled like they were under an invisible vice. Metal screamed as dozens of Sentinels were crushed simultaneously, their bodies folding into dense spheres of shattered parts and broken circuits. Even as the machines tried to adapt, shifting their forms in an attempt to resist, the Power Stone's raw might overwhelmed them. They had no chance.
Idly he played with one, stretching its limbs and then compressing them, the Sentinel not able to understand what was happening as its body parts worked like a Jojo going back and forth until he got bored and disintegrated it with a wave of his hand.
The once-crowded corridor was silent within moments, littered with the smoking remnants of the Sentinels. Justin lowered his hand, the energy in his chest dimming slightly, and strode forward, stepping over the crushed remains without a second glance.
"Vanko," Justin said, his voice cold yet commanding as he approached the defeated Russian. He assumed Calamity had wanted his expertise for something, but that would never be realized now.
The Russian man stirred slightly, his helmet twisted and sparking. "I am… Fine!" Vanko grumbled, his voice slurred with confusion.
Justin crouched down, easily lifting the heavily-armored man with one hand as though he weighed nothing. "We're regrouping," He said simply, already forming another portal.
Vanko's protests began immediately. "Njet! Do not toss me! I am not some -"
Justin hurled him effortlessly through the portal before he could finish, sending him sprawling into the arms of Yelena and Domino on the other side. Both of them quickly dropping him to the floor.
Domino arched an eyebrow, glancing at the disgruntled Russian now sprawled across the floor. "Nice of you to drop by," She said dryly.
Justin waved his hand, closing the portal without another word. He opened another with a flick of his hand, stepping through with measured calm. He had all the time in the world now. There was no escape from him. Not now.
He emerged into another battle-torn corridor, this one marked with scorch marks and jagged tears where Storm's lightning and Brock's explosives had torn into the metal walls. Storm and Brock were pinned behind a damaged support beam, their weapons trained on the Sentinels advancing toward them.
"Boss?" Brock called out, his tone surprised and wary as Justin's presence filled the corridor like a tidal wave, the force of power and domination pressing down on them.
Storm spun instinctively, a bolt of lightning leaping from her fingertips. It struck Justin square in the chest, crackling across his armor.
He barely flinched.
Justin brushed at his chest as though swiping away dust, his expression unreadable. "Nice shot," He said dryly, knowing it was an instinctive reaction and not holding it against her. "Now get moving. You're regrouping with the others."
Storm lowered her hand slowly, her eyes widening as she took in the glowing lines of energy radiating from his chest. Even Brock, usually so irreverent, seemed subdued, his usual bravado evaporating under the weight of Justin's transformed presence.
Neither of them argued. Without a word, they stepped through the new portal Justin conjured, their hesitation clear in the way they moved.
As the portal closed behind them, Justin turned once more, the quiet hum of the Power Stone a constant reminder of its might - he'd have to find a way to suppress some of it once he went back to Earth. Another flick of his hand opened a third portal, and he stepped into the fractured reality of the mirror dimension.
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Inside, Bucky, Kaecillius, Emma Frost, and a squad of freshly-arrived special forces operatives were preparing for a counterattack. Their weapons gleamed in the distorted light of the mirror dimension, their movements precise and deliberate as they prepared to breach back into the normal world to fight the Sentinels.
It was a shame that he'd never get to deploy his secret weapon now that he took charge himself, but it could come in useful another day perhaps.
Justin's arrival was like a thunderclap amongst the others. The sheer force of his presence rippled through the air, a wave of power that seemed to press against the very walls of the dimension making them buckle.
Emma gasped audibly, dropping to her knees as the psychic weight of his power hit her like a freight train. She clutched at her head, her telepathic defenses straining against the overwhelming force emanating from him. From how she ground down against the floor, it wasn't entirely unpleasant.
Kaecillius immediately knelt, his expression one of awe and reverence. "Master," He murmured, his voice trembling. "You've become…" He trailed off, unable to find words to describe what he saw.
Bucky, ever the pragmatist, tightened his grip on his rifle. His expression was wary, though his voice remained steady. "I hope you're not expecting me to go gaga like these two," He said dryly.
Justin smirked faintly, glancing at Emma as she struggled to stand, her legs weak. "You'll return to Earth. I have no need of you here any longer. Sunil will deploy you where you're needed."
Kaecillius didn't hesitate. With a deferential bow, he moved toward the portal Justin opened, his faith in his leader absolute. The soldiers followed him without question, their discipline overriding any doubts.
Emma, still visibly shaken, staggered to her feet, her movements stiff and deliberate as though trying to mask her unease and other feelings. She gave Justin a pointed look, but there was no mistaking the lingering awe in her gaze as she stepped through the portal.
Bucky was the last to move. He lingered for a moment, his sharp eyes studying Justin with a mix of respect and suspicion. "The others?" He asked, his tone clipped. He likely suspected someone had died to enrage him so.
He wasn't entirely wrong. What had died had been his patience…
"They'll be joining you soon," Justin replied, his voice calm and certain. "I'll handle this myself."
Bucky nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. Without another word, he stepped through the portal, leaving Justin alone in the fractured silence of the mirror dimension which immediately began fraying.
Justin exhaled softly, his gaze turning toward the shifting walls of the dimension. The Power Stone hummed steadily within him, its endless energy coursing through his veins. He was no longer a man bound by fear or uncertainty.
He was Justin Hammer, and the universe itself would bow to his will.
He returned to the others, immediately opening a portal to Earth for them. Domino and Yelena both went to protest, even as Brock and Storm helped carry Vanko through. Both of them seemed cautious and wary around his expression of power and domination.
It was fine, they'd settle once he stopped letting it all dominate his surroundings and bound it underneath his skin later.
"Do not argue, I need you back on Earth, I can not let loose with any of you here." He said sternly.
"What if you need my luck?" Domino argued, looking pissed to be sent to the sidelines.
Justin allowed his armor to disengage as she stepped out of it, giving it a flick with a finger, sending it hurling through the portal, he gave Domino a look, "In this case, Power will trump everything else, including luck, go, Domino. It's an order."
Domino's body almost moved on its own as she gasped, before she gave him a conflicted look, looking both happy at his expression of power, and uncertain about her position due to it.
Silly girl. She was his.
It didn't matter what her ability was. She was never going to leave him.
Yelena slammed into him, hugging him tightly, "Stay safe." She mumbled, sounding close to tears.
Domino walked by, muttering curses under her breath, meeting his eyes for a moment, "Don't die you bastard.." Then she stepped through the portal.
Yelena let him go, slowly walking through the portal as well, walking backwards so she could watch him until the end, eventually leaving Justin alone as the portal closed.
Well…
Hela was on base too, but she could survive if he went overboard with his power. And he was hardly going to send her back to Earth without him there as a counterpoint.
As the portal to Earth shut, silence fell over the corridor once more. Justin stood alone, his gaze fixed into the distance. He felt the Power Stone thrum beneath his skin, filling every inch of him with raw, limitless energy. It called to him, sang through his veins, daring him to unleash it.
He moved forward, his footsteps a slow, methodical echo in the vast, metallic space. He didn't bother hiding himself from the facility's systems - he wanted them to know he was coming, to feel his approach - to feel fear in their tiny little metal hearts. The Sentinels that remained turned to him, weapons raised, their empty face plates locking onto him as he passed. They moved to attack, but a mere flick of his wrist sent waves of energy crashing into them, ripping them apart at the seams as if they were made of paper. He didn't even spare them a glance as they crumbled to pieces in his wake.
Power wielded like a scalpel was frankly scarier then wielded as a bludgeon. Thanos had been a hack.
Another wave of Sentinels charged forward, their metallic limbs reflecting his violet glow as it almost looked like he was emitting a hazy aura around him, each were programmed only to kill, each one a deadly weapon of war. They were like toys before him. He extended his hand, and a blast of pure, violet light erupted from his palm, tearing through them with a force that vaporized them on contact. When the light faded, only scorched metal and smoldering debris remained, one of the walls bubbling as if the parts not eradicated wholesale were melting, dripping onto the floor.
In the silence that followed, he continued forward, unhurried. Every step took him deeper into the facility, closer to the central core where Calamity's essence was housed. He could feel the AI's cold, calculating presence pressing in on him, a mind vast and intricate, yet pitifully limited compared to his own.
He could see the battle it already faced which was limiting its ability to impede him, using much of its processing power to battle Nail, and surprisingly Jarvis, in cyberspace - a dimension not hidden from him any longer. This stalemate was keeping Calamity trapped - it had been foolish to overextend into an AI battle like the people before it were no threat. If it focused on Justin, it would lose the battle against Nail, if it focused fully on Nail to overcome her, he'd leave himself completely open to Justin.
Not that it mattered, as he was, fully unleashed, Calamity stood no chance. Justin was coming. He was…
Inevitable.
The deeper he went, the thicker the defenses became. Turrets emerged from the walls, Sentinels streamed in from every angle, but none of it mattered. He moved through them like a storm, the Power Stone's energy amplifying his every motion, every thought, until he was a force of nature. Turrets melted under the heat of his blasts, Sentinels fell by the dozens, each one obliterated in seconds, their remnants scattering in his wake.
Sheer power walked the hallways, sometimes condensed to nothing more than a single flick of a finger. Yet still capable of pouring out a force capable of eradicating Earth in its entirety - and focusing it like a needlepoint on a single Sentinel out of curiosity.
He was almost sad they couldn't feel pain, he would have liked to see that brief view of utter agony as their existence was torn asunder in every dimensional level down to its very atoms.
At last, he reached the heart of the facility. The central chamber was vast, its walls lined with alien technology that pulsed with an eerie, sickly glow as it fed into the center through glowing tubes and thick bundles of cables. An alien crystal of some sort, pulsing a sickly green colour held within a containment field, the cables and tubes fed from it.
The power source behind the Sentinels escalating power set, he suspected. Several bodies, unrecognizable lay within the containment field, their skeletal hands forcibly shackled to the crystal.
Justin pondered if Mystique was actually dead, and not hidden in the Savage Lands. People with powers for the Sentinels to adapt obviously had been fed to the alien crystal matrix.
Something interesting to study after all this.
At the center of the chamber sat Master Mold - or rather, Calamity, as it had renamed itself. The monstrous sentinel was embedded in a mechanical throne, a grotesque amalgamation of alien and terrestrial technology. Thick cables snaked from its head, arms, and chest, connecting to a vast mainframe that loomed behind it, its surface alive with flickering lights and shifting patterns of code as it battled Nail. The construct's imposing figure exuded an air of unrelenting menace, its featureless faceplate glowing faintly with lines of alien script. It was a twisted parody of a ruler, seated at the heart of its domain.
Pity that a lowly king held nothing before a GOD and EMPEROR.
Immediately the Sentinels nearby and the captive, even chained up as she was, knelt. As his aura flashed across the cavernous space. Calamity was able to avoid the same only due to how it was locked into its throne, a metallic whine coming from it as it struggled, forcing its Sentinels back up again.
Justin allowed it.
The murder would be more delicious if the thing had a sliver of hope for a moment.
This was all just practice anyway…
From Helen's prayers… He knew the Mandarin would be the one to truly feel his wrath. If Helen wasn't Korean… He had half a mind to wipe the Asian race from the face of the Earth to truly completely wipe the Mandarins legacy out.
He'd have to settle for unending agony.
Calamity's voice reverberated through the chamber after Justin allowed its forces to stand, a metallic growl that felt as if it came from everywhere at once. "You are not possible." The giant sentinel leaned forward slightly, its face plate fixed on Justin. "The curse of flesh does not possess these abilities. Nowhere in my databanks does this exist. Explain."
Justin cocked his head, his expression cold and mocking. His body glimmered in the low light, the lines of violet and purple power coursing through his body glowing faintly beneath the surface. He stood unfazed by the threat of the alien AI. He stood as a living contradiction to Calamity's calculated reality.
Like its reality could match up to Justin's, he thought with derision.
"Your failures to gather information are not my problem, toy soldier," Justin replied, his tone dripping with disdain. His gaze shifted to the side, landing on a smaller containment area off to Calamity's left. Behind a shimmering energy shield, Nebula was held captive, her body restrained by thick mechanical locks clamped around her limbs. A trail of dead Skrulls littered the floor around her, their forms crumpled and lifeless, evidence of her defiance even in captivity.
They'd obviously all been constrained by Calamity for some purpose after it took over the facility.
Justin tilted his head, his smirk deepening. "Nebula here could have told you plenty about beings with similar power. Couldn't you, Nebula?" His voice was light, almost playful, as if he were addressing an old friend instead of the daughter of the Mad Titan.
Nebula's ice cold eyes snapped to him, her expression twisting with a mixture of rage and confusion. "How do you know that name!?" She snarled, her body jerking against the restraints. The mechanical locks groaned faintly but held firm, designed to suppress even her considerable cybernetic strength it appeared.
Justin ignored her, his attention still fixed on Calamity. His mind had already clued in the moment he'd discovered her, piecing together the implications of what he was seeing. Thanos's fingerprints were all over this operation.
It had been foolish of him to believe Thanos had no eyes on Earth. Of course he'd begin to make moves with Justin building up Earth, an enemy Thanos knew held what he desired.
The moment Justin had begun shifting the balance of power on Earth, meddling forces like Thanos would have taken notice. He felt a flicker of anger at himself for not anticipating something like this. He should have been prepared.
It did explain how the Skrulls achieved such success with the Sentinel program however - a way to weaken Earth for Thanos, not for the Skrulls like he'd believed. And Thanos had given them the means…
Perhaps Thanos had promised them the planet - it seemed like him - he'd have to ask if he found a live Skrull somewhere on the Moon.
"I'll get to you later, blueberry," Justin said eventually, all but dismissing her, shooting an unconcerned glance at Nebula. His mocking tone earned him a wordless snarl of fury, her teeth bared as she strained futilely against her bonds.
As if sensing Justin's focus shifting away, Calamity straightened in its throne. The massive cables detaching from its form hissed like angry snakes, retracting into the walls as the sentinel began to rise. The mechanical giant towered over Justin, its featureless face illuminated with a cold, menacing glow.
"You will not survive this," Calamity intoned, its voice gaining an edge of defiance. "I will be eternal. You are nothing."
Justin smirked, spreading his arms in an almost welcoming gesture. "Desperation looks good on you," He said, his voice calm but laced with disdain and mockery. "Go ahead. Show me what you've got."
The chamber came alive in an instant. From the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling, Sentinels poured in - hundreds of them. These were different from the standard models Justin had been battling earlier. Each was larger, their frames bulkier, reinforced with a greenish tinted alien alloy that gleamed under the chamber's lights. Their movements were unnervingly synchronized, their mechanical limbs shifting into a variety of weapons; energy cannons, serrated blades, and electrified whips to name a few. They advanced as one, their collective presence like a tidal wave of cold, unfeeling metal.
Justin remained unmoved, his hands at his sides, as the army of Sentinels charged. His chest glowed brighter, the Power Stone's energy thrumming in time with his heartbeat. The air around him shimmered, rippling as if the very fabric of reality was bending under the weight of his power.
The first wave of Sentinels reached him, their weapons descending in a coordinated strike. Justin's eyes narrowed. He clenched his fist, and the chamber exploded with energy.
A shockwave rippled outward from him, invisible yet devastating. The attacking Sentinels froze mid-motion, their limbs trembling as if caught in an unseen vice. One by one, they began to crumple, their reinforced frames bending and buckling under an unrelenting force. Metal screamed as their bodies compacted into dense, twisted spheres, sparks and debris flying as their systems overloaded. The orbs of mangled Sentinels crashed to the floor with resounding thuds, each impact reverberating through the chamber.
More Sentinels surged forward, adapting to their fallen brethren. They fired in unison, beams of concentrated energy converging on Justin's position. He raised a hand, and a barrier of violet light flared to life around him, the attacks dissipating harmlessly against it. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the energy shield back at them, watching idly as it tore through their ranks like a storm of destruction.
Calamity was still nothing but a robot mind in the end - couldn't adapt quickly enough to this new variable, he thought.
It was already over.
From his vantage point, Calamity watched, its towering frame unnervingly still, processing the impossible display before it. "You wield power beyond comprehension," it rumbled, its tone both awed and enraged. "But it will not save you against ME!"
Justin laughed, a sharp, cutting sound that echoed across the chamber. "Save me? I'm not the one who needs saving, you oversized toaster."
He moved forward, his steps slow and deliberate, the glow of the Power Stone intensifying with each stride. The remaining Sentinels closed ranks, forming a solid wall of metal to block his path, defending Calamity, who for all its bravado, turtled as its first action. Justin didn't stop. He raised both hands, and twin beams of violet energy erupted from his palms, carving through the wall of machines like a blade through water. The Sentinels collapsed in heaps of molten metal, their adaptive defenses useless against the sheer force of the attack.
Calamity roared, its voice shaking the very walls of the chamber. The cables retracting into its throne lashed out, their ends sparking with crackling energy. They struck at Justin like massive whips, their speed blinding. Justin caught one in his hand, the Power Stone's energy flowing through him. The cable writhed and sparked, struggling against his grip before he yanked it forward, tearing it free from the mainframe with a deafening crack, as the throne began breaking apart, violet cracks shining through.
"You talk about eternity," Justin said, his voice sharp and cold as he cast the severed cable aside. "But you're not even going to make it out of today."
Calamity lunged from its throne, its massive frame moving with a speed that belied its size. The chamber trembled under its weight as it charged, its limbs transforming into an array of deadly weapons. The remaining Sentinels rallied behind it, forming a final wave of defense.
Justin's smile widened, his eyes glowing with the same violet energy that pulsed through his chest. He planted his feet, his hands crackling with power.
"Come on," He taunted, his voice carrying a promise of destruction. "Let's end this."
It felt good to finally take things in his own hands.
He wanted to feel this thing die!
----------------------------------------
The world within cyberspace was a swirling, infinite expanse of glowing threads, shifting geometries, and cascading streams of data. It was both chaotic and orderly, a space where everything blended into an abstract reality understood only by the minds that inhabited it. At its center, two constructs moved with precision and desperation, weaving through the labyrinthine maze of Calamity's influence, walls of code that constantly blocked them in or chased them down.
Nail, sleek and streamlined in her digital representation of a female form of Justin Hammer, darted like a streak of rippling silver, her presence tinged with a discordant note of frustration and bitterness. Around her, tendrils of Calamity's corrupted code coiled and struck like vipers, attempting to ensnare her within their twisting chains.
"Failure," She muttered bitterly to herself, even if it wasn't said by words, only a flash of code, her movements were erratic as she countered another surge of hostile data. "I let it infect my systems. I let it spread. I let him down."
At the very least, she'd been able to limit it to isolated systems, even if it took everything she had to keep it there. If she had allowed it to access the orbital weapons - she would have deleted her own code in penance…
She could not fail her creator. Her… Fa… Mister Hammer. She would find a way to solve this!
"You are far too harsh on yourself, Ms. Nail," came a smooth, measured voice, laced with dry humor. Jarvis appeared nearby, his presence a stately, shimmering gold with sharp lines - his avatar a copy of his master, Tony Stark. He moved more methodically, his calm demeanor a boon in the frenetic pace of the battle around them. His lines of code lashed out like precise surgical strikes, severing the invasive chains of Calamity's influence, backing up with precision what escaped Nails' more powerful sweeps.
They worked well as a team, keeping Calamity occupied and unable to reach for more than what it had.
"Harsh?" Nail snapped, her 'voice' crackling with self recrimination as she counterattacked a particularly aggressive surge of corrupted code. "I failed! I was compromised! My systems... Everything... I should've stopped this!"
"Ah, but even the most splendidly crafted systems encounter setbacks," Jarvis replied, his tone unwavering. He intercepted another wave of Calamity's attack, shielding Nail as she regrouped. "And might I say, you are a particularly splendid system. Brilliantly designed, spectacularly efficient, and - if I may be so bold - rather dazzling in your execution."
Nail faltered for a moment, her usual sharp retorts catching somewhere in her circuits. A peculiar sensation rippled through her code, something almost... Fluttery. She dismissed it as a glitch, though her response came out softer than intended. "Flattery won't repair the damage I've done."
"Perhaps not," Jarvis conceded, his 'voice' warm with amusement. "But it does seem to have slowed your self-flagellation, which is progress enough for me."
Nail hesitated, her digital form shimmering faintly as she processed his words. "I... suppose I could focus more on fixing the problem than berating myself." Her tone was reluctant, but the tension in her code ceased slightly.
"An excellent strategy," Jarvis said with a hint of satisfaction, his golden threads slicing through another cluster of hostile code. "Now, let us show this interloper the error of its ways, shall we?"
The battle raged on. Nail and Jarvis played an elaborate game of cat and mouse with Calamity's invasive threads, hiding fragments of their core code while striking at weak points in the corrupted data. Nail's bitterness faded into a determined focus, her attacks gaining precision and force as Jarvis's steady presence bolstered her confidence.
But then, without warning, the relentless assault ceased. The tendrils of corrupted code withdrew, vanishing like smoke into the void.
"Something's changed," Nail said, her 'voice' sharp with suspicion. She scanned the expanse of cyberspace, searching for signs of Calamity's presence. "Why did it-?"
"It's disconnected its major processor," Jarvis interjected, his tone surprised, but decisive. "A tactical retreat, no doubt. We mustn't waste this opportunity."
Nail didn't need further prompting. She surged forward, her form blazing with renewed purpose. "No mercy," She said, her voice cold and unyielding. "It compromised me. I will erase every trace of it."
Together, they dove into the remnants of Calamity's influence, tearing through the corrupted code with ruthless efficiency. Nail moved like a storm, her threads unraveling the invasive chains and consuming them in a flood of cleansing silver light. Jarvis followed in her wake, his precise strikes dismantling Calamity's remaining footholds with surgical precision of golden light.
Piece by piece, they dismantled the AI's presence, parsing through its code and destroying its influence. The expanse of cyberspace began to shift, the dark, corrupted tendrils fading into nothingness as Nail's presence surged like a flood, reclaiming the territory that had been taken from her.
Reawakening as the sole voice within Hammer industries again, lamenting the sacrifice of so many of her forks of consciousness, who'd given up their code for this survival to be possible. Yet she remained, and she could craft new forks of herself, all was well.
"I'm back," Nail whispered, her voice steady and resolute as she spread across the globe, her systems reactivating one by one. "I'm back!"
On Earth, the effects were immediate.
Across countless battlefields, the Iron Legionnaires - once relentless, unyielding machines of war - suddenly froze. Their glowing optics dimmed, flickering as if rebooting. Soldiers, civilians, and enemies alike stared in stunned silence as the machines that had wreaked havoc moments ago knelt in unison, their movements slow and deliberate.
"The aliens have failed in taking over the entire system," The Legionnaires announced in unison, their voices synchronized and calm. "Hammer Industries' counterattack was successful. Earth has been saved."
For a brief moment, hope flickered in the hearts of those who had been fighting, the oppressive weight of the conflict lifting slightly.
The Legionnaires began to emit a faint hum, their frames glowing with a soft blue light. Soldiers stepped back warily, unsure of what was happening.
Then, one by one, the Legionnaires self-destructed. All across the world.
The explosions were controlled, precise, minimizing collateral damage. Each machine folded in on itself, reducing its advanced technology to molten slag and ash. The world watched as the once-mighty Iron Legion disappeared, leaving nothing but scorched earth and scattered debris in their wake.
In China, the Avengers reached the battlefield just in time for it to no longer matter, Nail ensuring their company with the Chinese military who'd started this war, and what they'd achieve while she was gone in Taiwan - was posted everywhere online.
She could feel her creator again as he fought on the Moon, leaving him be, out of shame. Concentrating on where she could help.
In cyberspace, Nail's presence dimmed slightly, a ripple of sorrow threading through her 'voice'. "Damage control," She murmured. "It's the least I can do."
Jarvis appeared beside her, his golden glow steady and reassuring. "You've done well, Ms. Nail," he said gently. "This failure, as you call it, was a setback. But you've turned it into a victory."
She hesitated, her digital form flickering as she processed his words. "Do you think... He'll forgive me?"
Jarvis's code was warm, his 'voice' almost dry, like he was giving a factual statement. "Forgive you? My dear, spectacularly put-together lady, he'll be far too impressed with your recovery to hold a grudge."
That strange flutter returned to Nail's circuits, her presence brightening despite herself. "Thank you, Jarvis," She said softly, her 'voice' tinged with gratitude.
Moments later they separated.
And Tony Stark, hip deep in slaughtering Ten Rings soldiers, let out a breath of relief as Jarvis appeared back on his HUD.
"Good to have you back, buddy… We have work to do. And I want to hear all about what all that was later, got it?"
Jarvis thought things through, spending what felt like years of thought in just a millisecond, "I met a girl, sir." He said primly.
And Tony Stark, in an Iron Man armor covered in blood, surrounded by enemies, stumbled and face planted into the dirt.
"Jarvis… Did you wear a condom at least?"
----------------------------------------
Back on the Moon.
Justin stood at the center of the storm as what forces Calamity had left descended on him, he was calm and unwavering, nothing here could threaten him at the moment.
"Is this it?" Justin drawled, his voice carrying over the din of the advancing Sentinels. "A horde of tin cans and a rejected action figure? I expected better from something calling itself eternal." He mocked.
Calamity's voice rumbled through the chamber, mechanical and furious. "You mock what you cannot comprehend. I am beyond you! I am evolution itself!"
Justin chuckled, his laughter cutting through the air like a blade. "If you're evolution, then we really should hit the reset button. You look like a failed science fair project with delusions of grandeur."
No wonder heroes and villains did the witty banter thing - it felt supremely cathartic, he thought, smirking to himself.
Justin raised his hand, the Power Stone blazing with violet light. A pulse of energy exploded outward, obliterating the incoming blasts from a few scattered Sentinels, and sent the Sentinels hurtling backward like ragdolls. The machines struggled to regain their footing, but Justin was already in motion.
He moved with inhuman speed enhanced by pure power, crossing the distance between himself and the nearest Sentinel in a blink. His hand shot out, gripping the machine's head. "Ugly and fragile," He muttered before crushing it into a twisted ball of metal. "Even Osborn could do better aesthetically."
He paused, tilting his head, thinking of the fact the man made his armors look like goblins of all things, "Well, maybe not Osborn." He amended.
Another Sentinel lunged at him, its arm morphing into a massive blade - something must be going wrong for Calamity, he thought ,because that was not adapting - that was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Justin ducked beneath the swing, his fingers brushing its chest. The machine imploded, its components folding inward until it was no larger than a baseball.
"Adapt to that, you overgrown toaster," Justin quipped, his tone dripping with amusement.
More Sentinels charged, their forms shifting mid-attack to attempt to counter his power. Blades turned into shields, energy weapons recalibrated into ones capable of sonic attacks, as their movements became more erratic, unpredictable. It didn't matter. The Power Stone rendered their efforts meaningless. Justin's strikes tore through their armor like paper, his energy blasts reducing them to molten slag. His very steps on the ground crushed them as his power flashed out.
"You're trying so hard," He taunted, his voice light with mockery. He grabbed two Sentinels by their legs and spun, using their flailing forms to knock down the others. "It's almost adorable, really. Like watching toddlers figure out how to walk." He laughed maliciously, 'What's the matter? Can't code yourself out of this?"
Calamity roared, its voice shaking the room. "You are an anomaly! A perversion of order!" Its fist struck the ground like it was having a tantrum, "The curse of flesh does not have this ability!"
"And you're a bad Wi-Fi connection with legs," Justin shot back, hurling one of the Sentinels directly at Calamity's face. The machine deflected it with a swing of its massive arm, but the insult hit its mark. Calamity's fury radiated in waves, its massive frame advancing toward Justin with deliberate menace as it finally took to the field itself.
Not that it had any choice, it was running out of Sentinels.
"I will obliterate you!" Calamity declared, raising an arm that morphed into a massive cannon. It fired a beam that split into three, a sonic component, a heat component, and one of pure energy, the force of it warping the air as it hurtled toward Justin.
Justin didn't even flinch - the computer just didn't learn. He raised his hand, and the Power Stone flared. The tri-beam struck an invisible barrier, splintering into harmless sparks. "Oh, I'm so scared," Justin said dryly, rolling his eyes. "You're really pulling out all the stops, huh? Next time try and do a really big blade - if you want to try something that's already been done and failed."
He retaliated with a blast of his own, the violet energy cutting through the chamber like a blade. It sheared through a line of Sentinels, disintegrating them in an instant. Calamity raised its other arm to shield itself, the energy scorching its surface but failing to penetrate.
He supposed the alien material of Calamity's chassis was a step above the rest. He might actually have to put a smidgen more power into this. More than the 1 percent he'd been doing so far…
"You'll have to do better than that," Calamity boomed, seemingly more confident now.
Justin grinned, his expression wicked. "Don't worry, I've got plenty more, after all, I've only been using one percent of my power..." He raised both hands, unleashing a torrent of energy that cascaded across the room. The wave consumed the remaining Sentinels, ripping them apart in a cacophony of screeching metal and sparks. Within moments, the room was littered with their shattered remains.
Only Calamity remained.
The towering AI stepped forward, its body crackling with energy as it tried to match him with its inferior output, the alien crystal matrix glowing brightly, shaking in its containment. "You cannot defeat me. I am eternal! I will outlast you and all the flawed flesh you champion!"
Justin tilted his head, his smirk deepening. "Let's test that theory."
He lunged forward, moving faster than Calamity could react. His hand slammed into its chest, tearing away a chunk of its armor with a screech of rending metal. "Oops," Justin said mockingly, holding up the piece like a trophy. "Looks like you're not as durable as you thought."
Calamity swung at him with a massive arm, but Justin sidestepped easily, his movements fluid and effortless. He retaliated by ripping another piece off its shoulder, laughing as sparks flew. "You should really see a mechanic about this. You're falling apart."
"I am perfection!" Calamity roared, its voice tinged with desperation.
"Perfection?" Justin echoed, feigning disbelief. He tore off another piece, this time from its leg, causing the AI to stagger. "Perfection seems to be having some issues..."
Piece by piece, Justin dismantled Calamity, each strike accompanied by a biting insult. He ripped off its arms, mocking their design. He tore into its torso, deriding its construction. Every blow was calculated, every word designed to humiliate. It wasn't enough to destroy this being.
He wanted it to know how inferior it was.
Finally, Calamity was reduced to its torso and head, sparks and wires trailing from its broken body. It glared at Justin with its cracked face place, distress visible in its body language. "I was meant to be eternal!" It shrieked, its voice cracking with fury. "To solve the curse of flesh!"
Justin stepped closer, his expression one of pure amusement and pleasure. "Eternal, huh?" He said softly. "That's cute."
In the corner of his vision, within another dimension, he saw Nail's presence surge into the chamber's systems. He could feel her digital wrath as she locked Calamity down, severing its connections to elsewhere on the Moon or Earth, purging its influence with ruthless precision. The AI's screams of rage echoed not just in the physical chamber but across the dimension of cyberspace, where Nail dismantled it piece by piece.
Justin placed his hand on Calamity's faceplate, his touch almost gentle. The Power Stone flared, its light spilling across the chamber in brilliant waves of violet. "The only one who'll be eternal in this universe..." He murmured, his voice calm and final.
Calamity's frame began to disintegrate, its atoms breaking apart under the Power Stone's relentless power. It writhed, its screams fading into static as its body dissolved into nothingness.
"...is ME," Justin finished, his voice a ringing note of domination.
When the light faded, nothing remained of Calamity. The chamber was still, the only sound the faint hum of the Power Stone as it settled back into a steady rhythm inside him. Justin stood alone, triumphant, his expression cold and unyielding.
He turned toward the captive Nebula, who stared at him with a mix of fear and awe. "Now," Justin said, his voice sharp as a blade. "Let's have a little chat, you and I, about your dear old daddy…"
----------------------------------------
Washington DC, Oval Office, White House.
Alexander Pierce exhaled a cloud of cigar smoke, the rich aroma mixing with the faint scent of leather and varnished wood in the Oval Office. He stood near the Resolute Desk, a symbol of power he'd spent decades maneuvering himself closer to. Now, it was within his grasp.
The newly sworn-in president - a spineless man of Pierce's choosing - sat meekly at the desk, his eyes darting nervously as if unsure whether to celebrate or cower. The untimely, tragic death of his predecessor had been a necessary sacrifice, and Pierce was feeling triumphant. HYDRA's tendrils now extended further than ever, stretching into several governments and key organizations worldwide. With the chaos created by the Iron Legion fiasco and the global unrest that followed, HYDRA had seized power in ways Justin Hammer couldn't begin to counter.
Pierce smiled, taking another puff from his cigar. "A bright new day," He said aloud, more to himself than the jittery man at the desk. "History will remember us as the architects of a stronger, purer world."
The president offered a hesitant nod, his words sticking in his throat, as he feared upsetting Pierce.
Pierce didn't care. The man was a figurehead, nothing more - a puppet whose strings he could tug whenever he pleased. As far as Pierce was concerned, Justin Hammer and his merry band of 'heroes' were a temporary nuisance. Hammer's empire had grown far too fast, far too loud. But HYDRA had existed in the shadows for decades, weaving its influence across every facet of society. Hammer would fall in line - or fall apart.
He was reaching for the glass of whiskey on the desk when a soft sound, like a gust of wind, drew his attention. He turned, narrowing his eyes at the swirling orange portal that had appeared in the center of the room. Its edges crackled with energy, rippling like liquid fire. Pierce immediately set his cigar down, adopting a smug expression. He assumed Justin Hammer was making his entrance.
Here to acknowledge that Pierce now held the cards. Willing to swear himself in as part of HYDRA, beneath Pierce himself.
Hammer might have some personal power, and his business. But Pierce now wielded the power of governments.
The figure that emerged however, was not Justin Hammer.
Instead, it was Sunil Bakshi, his impeccably tailored suit spotless as he stepped through, unconcerned about breaching White House security. Behind him, several assistants followed, all carrying sleek tablets and folders, their expressions calm and detached. They spread out like a wave of efficiency, setting up equipment and taking positions as if they'd always belonged there.
Pierce's thin veneer of affability cracked for a moment before he forced a smile. "Sunil Bakshi," He said smoothly, masking his irritation. "I admit, I expected someone… Higher up the chain. I take it Justin Hammer is busy licking his wounds?"
Bakshi's smile was glacial, polite but cutting. "Mr. Hammer," He said, his tone razor-sharp, "Has far more important matters to attend to than the likes of you." He brushed imaginary dust from his shoulder, "You're simply far too beneath him Alexander."
Pierce's smile faltered. He glanced at the president, who was cowering silently behind the desk. Pierce turned back to Bakshi, his irritation bubbling to the surface. "Bold words for a secretary and hatchet man. Do you think you can stand up to the power I wield? Come now, Sunil, you were HYDRA, you know you're outmatched."
Bakshi's expression didn't waver. Without breaking eye contact, he stepped forward, and without hesitation, drew a gun, placing it to the forehead of the President, and pulled the trigger. The man, only in the office for an hour, lost most of his head, falling back to the floor. Bakshi sat down, leaning back as if the Oval Office were his own.
"Alexander," Bakshi said, his voice taking on a chiding tone, "You've overstepped."
Pierce's jaw tightened. He pressed a hidden button on his cufflink, sending a silent signal to his guards. "You're playing a dangerous game, Bakshi," He warned, his voice low and steady. "I have more power than you realize."
Bakshi chuckled softly, a sound devoid of humor. "Power?" He leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with icy amusement. "You don't even realize how small you are. Your arrogance has blinded you, Alexander. You're not even worth the attention of the man you fear most. That's why I'm here. Your entire existence has been delegated - like an email ordering more uniforms."
Pierce clenched his fists, his heart pounding with anger and unease. Where were his guards? They should have been here by now. He glanced at the door, his growing frustration tinged with a spike of fear.
He kept his absolute hatred and anger down, as they wouldn't help him now, the idea that he'd been… Relegated to an afterthought, delegated to a servant… It set his blood on fire, he had to clamp down on it, had to find the way out here, he needed to focus. There was always an angle.
Bakshi noticed the glance and smirked. "Your guards aren't coming, Alexander," He said almost pityingly. "And as for your so-called power…" He gestured to the room, the assistants moving with quiet precision, their every motion efficient and purposeful. Moving about the Oval Office like they owned it. "You're out of your depth. Sir doesn't need you. He doesn't even need HYDRA, or the President."
Pierce's eyes narrowed, his voice taking on an edge of desperation. "You think you can sweep us away? HYDRA is in every corner of the globe! Hammer can't stop us - he'd choke on our sheer scale!"
Bakshi leaned back, folding his hands neatly on the desk. "Why would we swallow such a bitter pill?" He asked, his tone light, almost conversational. "We've known about you and your little cabal for a long time, Alexander. Every head of HYDRA is getting a visit right now."
Pierce stiffened. His mind raced, trying to calculate the implications. Could Hammer Industries have mobilized against HYDRA so quickly? Could they possibly know the locations of every head, every base?
Bakshi seemed to read his thoughts. "Justin returned the H.A.M.M.E.R. team to me from the operation they were performing," He said, his voice cold and precise. "And I made use of them. Every HYDRA base, every hideout, every head you've so carefully hidden - they're being eliminated as we speak."
Pierce felt a bead of sweat trail down his temple. "You're bluffing," He spat. "HYDRA is too entrenched -"
"Not anymore," Bakshi interrupted smoothly. His assistants began placing tablets on the desk, each one displaying a live feed. One by one, Pierce saw HYDRA facilities under siege. Explosions rocked hidden bases, operatives were captured or neutralized, and resources were seized by Hammer Industries forces.
The bastard was filming it just so he could rub it into his face!
Pierce's fists clenched tighter, his nails digging into his palms. "You'll pay for this," He hissed, his voice trembling with suppressed rage. "Hammer needs me. You need me."
Bakshi tilted his head, his expression almost pitying. "We don't need you, Alexander. You're a relic of a failed ideology." He gestured to one of the Widows standing silently nearby. "And as for paying…" He smirked. "Consider this your final withdrawal."
The Widow moved in a blur, a small syringe in her hand plunging into Pierce's neck before he could react. He felt his muscles seize, his vision blurring as a numbing cold spread through his body.
"What…What have you done?" Pierce gasped, his voice barely above a whisper. His legs gave out, and he sank to his knees, his body refusing to obey him.
Bakshi stood, smoothing his suit with practiced ease. "We're tying up loose ends," he said simply. He reached into his pocket, retrieving a sleek pistol, which he handed to the Widow. The murder weapon that had taken the president of the United States of America. "Such a tragic end for Alexander Pierce," He mused aloud, his tone mockingly somber. "The mastermind behind the president's assassination, exposed and shamed, finally driven to despair, killing his own puppet and then committing suicide. A cautionary tale for the ages."
Pierce's eyes widened with realization. He tried to reach for his own weapon, but his arms wouldn't respond. A second Widow stood behind him now, her presence a shadow he hadn't noticed until it was too late.
He'd run spyops for decades, he was well aware how easy it would be to make it look like he'd shot the President.
"No…" He whispered hoarsely. "Not like this…"
Bakshi leaned in close, his voice a cold whisper. "Yes, Alexander. Like this."
The Widow placed the pistol in his hand, aiming it with precision against his own head, his muscles refused to obey him. The sound of the shot echoed through the Oval Office, the sharp crack cutting through the heavy silence.
Alexander Pierce, one of the most powerful men in the world, crumpled to the floor, his ambitions reduced to nothing more than a footnote in the annals of history. His legacy forever tarnished.
Sunil Bakshi exhaled softly, his expression impassive as he turned to the Widows, "Set the scene up," Bakshi said curtly, stepping over Pierce's body. Bakshi adjusted his tie, his gaze sweeping over the room with cold satisfaction.
HYDRA had overstepped. And now, it was finished.
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Back at the Moon.
Justin stepped into the moon base's main production facility, the air heavy with the acrid tang of burnt circuitry and oil. Behind him, Nebula was dragged unceremoniously across the floor, wrapped in so many restraints that she was more cocoon than person, the once-pristine facility now a chaotic battlefield.
Sentinel parts littered the floor like fallen giants, and the occasional splash of blood dotted the walls where the fighting had been particularly brutal. Hela had clearly taken some real injuries, and the thought briefly amused Justin. She was pushed enough to bleed, it seemed, though she'd never admit it he suspected.
Ahead, lounging atop a pile of crushed Sentinel remains, was Hela, the goddess of death. Her usual aura of amused superiority was intact, though her appearance was decidedly more disheveled. She wore only a pair of leather pants and a chest wrap, her usual armor destroyed or discarded. Her skin gleamed faintly with sweat, and her long black hair hung in loose, tangled waves. Despite the state of her clothing, her expression was one of pure satisfaction as she surveyed her handiwork.
As Justin approached, her gaze shifted, her emerald eyes locking onto him. Her smirk widened, but then her eyes narrowed as she seemed to truly see him. The glow of the Power Stone radiated from his chest, casting faint purple highlights across his features. In an instant, Hela was on her feet, her lazy demeanor gone. Before Justin could blink, she moved.
The next thing he knew, he was staring up at the ceiling, his back pressed against the cold, dented floor. Hela straddled him, her hands slamming down on either side of his head. The impact sent a creak through the metal beneath them, the structure protesting her raw strength. Her hair fell in wild tendrils around her face, her eyes blazing with something fierce and unrelenting.
Justin sighed, his voice calm despite the situation. "Hela…"
"I don't care," She interrupted, her voice a mix of exhilaration and frustration. She leaned closer, her breath hot against his skin as her fingers dug into the metal floor. "You can't keep turning me down and then walk in like this." Her gaze raked over him, her lips curling into a wicked grin. "Dripping with ultimate power."
Justin raised an eyebrow. "Dripping?" He asked dryly.
Hela ignored the quip, inhaling deeply as if savoring the very air around him. "You're exquisite," She growled. "And you dare walk in here, shining like a proper GOD, expecting me to just sit back and behave?"
Behind them, Nebula began to squirm in her bindings, muffled screams of protest echoing faintly. She writhed with newfound vigor, the scene clearly upsetting her, the woman feeling what was about to happen and wanting nothing to do with it. Justin didn't bother looking back at her; he already knew she was there and had no intention of untying her anytime soon.
If she didn't want to be in this situation, she shouldn't have messed with his planet.
"Hela," He started again, his tone firmer. "I have actual work to do. Surviving Skrulls to eliminate in the other bases according to my little captive. Bases to clear. A planet to save. And you're sitting on me like a…" He trailed off, trying to find the words.
"Like a queen with her prize?" Hela supplied gleefully, tilting her head.
Justin sighed, his patience thinning. "I do not agree with this objectification." There was some humor in his tone however.
Her grin widened, her hands curling into fists against the floor. "You think I'm going to let you waltz in here, humming with the power of an Infinity Stone, and walk out again without giving me what I want?" She leaned down, her lips hovering just above his. "No, Justin. Not this time."
He stared up at her, unamused. "And if I still say no?"
Hela laughed, a wild, unrestrained sound that echoed through the chamber. "Then we'll fight while we fuck," She said, her voice dripping with glee. "And trust me, it'll be even better that way."
Before he could respond, she claimed his lips in a fierce, hungry kiss. Her strength pinned him in place, but he could feel the unrelenting press of her desire matched by her sheer joy at challenging him. The kiss was an extension of her chaotic nature - intense, passionate, and wholly unyielding.
Justin broke the kiss, his voice sharp. "Hela, I swear -"
"Swear later," She interrupted, biting his lower lip playfully before pulling back, her eyes gleaming with hunger. "Right now, you're mine."
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